Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Well we've spent the better part of the last two weeks talking about how life has changed
00:05with Jimmy Butler now here with the Golden State Warriors and there's this whole renewed
00:11confidence and energy and excitement and it's palpable and I love it.
00:16We love it.
00:17We're all excited too.
00:19I said to you yesterday, when was the last time it felt like this?
00:23When Charlotte was in town on a Tuesday?
00:26This is the biggest who cares game of all time, but not tonight, it's not.
00:30Not with the current backdrop, it's not.
00:33Now it's, as I said to my son on the way to school today, Warriors play tonight.
00:39That's all I need to say and he's like, okay.
00:43He knows what that means.
00:44Lock in Dub Nation.
00:45That means we get your homework done early, but then you get homework done early now.
00:50Because by 7 o'clock, everything stops.
00:54We got the Warriors are playing basketball.
00:58So that's all wonderful, but here's the next question in my mind is, when does the world
01:04change again?
01:05Because it always does.
01:08We always do this and it's all we can do.
01:12We have takes based on the information you have in that moment and then it changes.
01:17Teams are going high, teams are going low, somebody gets hurt, somebody comes back.
01:23I'm really curious about Jonathan Kaminga.
01:29I'm really curious.
01:32And so yesterday, if you were with us on the crossover, we're just talking Warrior basketball
01:39and then he said something and he's like, right, and then Kaminga comes back and I let
01:43out an audible noise.
01:45I went, and he stopped everything and he goes, wait a minute, what was that?
01:51Why did you make that noise?
01:52When I said Jonathan Kaminga is coming back and Dibs, it's because I'm truly, I don't
01:58know what's going to happen.
02:00Like prior to Jimmy Butler joining this team, this was the most debatable Warrior, possibly
02:06the most debatable athlete in the Bay Area right now.
02:10Trade him, sign him, future all-star, overrated, let him cook, get out of his way, hates young
02:18people.
02:19He can score 25 a night, all of this.
02:23And I look at it now and the world has changed since Jonathan Kaminga left.
02:26A lot.
02:27Can he still score 25 a night?
02:28Well, he can, but you don't have to, yes, but you won't like need him to unless somebody's
02:35out and you probably don't want him to, I mean, you do want him to, but that would be
02:42a game where maybe Steph is cold or Jimmy gets in foul trouble or whatever the other
02:48reason would be.
02:49The pecking order is pretty clear, and this is what Steve talked about with us yesterday
02:54in the 4-for-1 trade.
02:56Everything now is pretty crystal clear about what your role is.
03:00You got Steph and Jimmy, you're 1-1A or you're 1-1B, whatever, Draymond is still going to
03:07be Draymond, and then if you want to look at players 4 through 10, you all have roles.
03:13And some nights, Kaminga, yeah, go out there and get 20, get 20 or more.
03:17If the matchup is good, go ahead and fill it up.
03:20Quentin Post, if it's a matchup that suits you, go out there and knock down three threes.
03:25Moses Moody, be a glue guy, score when you can.
03:29I think Pods is now a mainstay in that starting group and probably the finishing group because
03:36maybe he should change his name to Gloominski because the guy does every little thing.
03:42The smart shot, the smart play, takes a charge, rebounds like a power forward, and there are
03:49other guys, I do think you're starting to get role definition, so the one question mark
03:54is Jonathan Kaminga because Kaminga's best at here's the ball, go cook.
04:01But this team is not really built like that anymore with Jimmy Butler here.
04:05So Brandon Pajewski, I was just doing some calculations.
04:10Gloominski.
04:11Yeah, calculation sensation.
04:13That's a buck.
04:14While you were chatting about Podsminskis and Brandon Pajewski, what do you think he's
04:20averaging since Jimmy Butler started playing basketball?
04:23Those six games.
04:24Yeah.
04:25What would be your guess?
04:26Just a perception.
04:27Probably 15 and eight.
04:29Really good guess.
04:30Yeah.
04:31Phenomenal guess.
04:3314.83.
04:34Can I get a ding?
04:35Well.
04:36Do I have to beg?
04:37Price is right when he says you overbid, but it's okay.
04:41You're always trying to bring me down, his partner of mine.
04:44I got it.
04:45You know, we got it.
04:46His partner of mine.
04:47Yeah, I got it.
04:48Got it.
04:49Even it out.
04:50Anyway.
04:51Did I not say really good guess?
04:52It was a really good guess.
04:54I'm not the Price is Right.
04:55Anyway.
04:56Boom.
04:57Boom.
04:58Oh.
04:59Totally.
05:00The sad trombone.
05:0114.8 points per game.
05:02Are we sure that Jonathan Kaminga is still the third leading scorer on this team?
05:09When he comes back?
05:11Are you sure?
05:13I mean.
05:14Is he option three?
05:16Do we know this?
05:18It depends on the minutes.
05:19And honestly, when you look at what Brandon has done and how he plays and how Steve gushes
05:26about him.
05:27And I asked him yesterday about his three-man combo, like what three-man combo is really
05:31standing out to you.
05:32And I said, take aside Steph and Draymond.
05:35Who's your best three-man combo?
05:38And he said, well, I'm going to keep Draymond in there because it's Jimmy and it's Draymond
05:44and it's Brandon.
05:45That's the three-man combo that's got Steve a little bit trembly, a little rumbly in his
05:51tumbly.
05:52So Brandon's going to play.
05:53He's going to get 30 minutes.
05:56And so if he gets those minutes and he takes the three like he's been taking it, open threes
06:02that are now being created, he probably will outscore Jonathan Kaminga.
06:07Let's see, hotshot.
06:08How about Moses Moody?
06:09What is he averaging since Jimmy Butler started playing for the Warriors?
06:13Man.
06:14What's your perception?
06:15My perception is he's averaging about, I don't want to go over.
06:19Don't want to do that now.
06:20Yeah.
06:21I'd say 11.8.
06:2211.8.
06:23Special, isn't he?
06:25Good job.
06:26You were closer on the last one, but.
06:29I stayed under.
06:30You didn't overbid.
06:31I was going to go 12.4.
06:32You should have done it.
06:3312.8.
06:34Okay.
06:3512.8 points per game.
06:37I'll give it to you.
06:38Okay.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Yeah.
06:41That's all good.
06:42He's nailing it right now.
06:43Anyway.
06:44Point is, gosh, I mean, I can't just say enough good things about my radio program.
06:47Anyway.
06:48Anyway.
06:49I guess my answer would be yes, but the point I'm making is Jonathan Kaminga returns to
06:57a whole new world, not just in the obvious way.
07:02Jonathan Kaminga was going to go into the offseason and he is looking to sign an extension
07:07and the Golden State Warrior team with which he is trying to sign an extension is now a
07:13different group, not just for this year, but for the next two after that as well.
07:18So why is that relevant?
07:21It's not relevant because of Jonathan's feelings.
07:24I don't care about that.
07:26I hope he handles it well, but if Jonathan is bummed because the minutes might be down
07:31and there's fewer shots for him or whatever, hey, them's the breaks kid.
07:35Okay.
07:36I think he's going to get his money.
07:38I don't know if it's the money he totally wants, but he's going to get a contract.
07:42I think he's going to stay, but I am all eyes on whether or not he can find the slot, like
07:51because that's different now, like what they're asking him to do, who they're asking him to
07:56be and his, hey, got to get in where you fit in kind of a vibe is different now.
08:02And it's not just different this year.
08:04It's different for the next three years.
08:06And I don't know if I can speak confidently about how that's going to go.
08:13I really don't know if like that could take some time is my point.
08:20It depends on how he comes back health wise.
08:23And it also depends on where the team is winning wise and how that communication goes.
08:29And this is why I asked Steve yesterday about his experience with Andre Iguodala.
08:33When he went to Andre, he took the job.
08:36Andre had never come off the bench in his career.
08:38And he said to Andre before that next season, I like you off the bench.
08:43And I know you've never come off the bench in your entire career, 10 years, but it's
08:49And that whole next year when they won a title, Andre played 73 games and he came
08:53off the bench 73 times.
08:55And in fact, in the next three years, Andre Iguodala started one game in three
09:00years, more than 200 games played.
09:02So that experience, it does carry over.
09:05And so now he's got to talk to Jonathan when Jonathan comes back and maybe not
09:10right away because he's going to be ramping up and getting the minutes ready.
09:15But when Kaminga comes back off this road trip, hopefully he's played a couple of
09:19games and then it's all right.
09:21Here's what we see, Jonathan.
09:23I really like my starting five.
09:25We've been winning with Brandon and Steph and Jimmy and Draymond and Moses.
09:29So that's what we're going with.
09:31You're still going to get your minutes.
09:33And if you play the way we know you can play, you're going to get 25 to 30 minutes.
09:38And that should be enough for you to do what you want to do.
09:42I love this text that just came in while you were saying what you were just
09:46saying.
09:48707 says this.
09:50This is a really good point.
09:52Kaminga right now is not a got to have him back player with this team.
09:58He was when he left.
10:00And now he's not.
10:02And that might be the best way to say it.
10:04He is no longer a got to have him back player.
10:09I think he could be, depending on how he fits, depending on what the warrior goal
10:13is, depending on how far it goes.
10:15Because I said yesterday, if you're really going to do something special in
10:17the playoffs, then he's going to have to fit in perfectly and pop because you
10:21need those 22-year-old legs.
10:23So this isn't me diminishing him.
10:25I just think that the warriors have found their best stride that they have
10:29found in a long time.
10:31And it happened without him.
10:33And so that's more challenging than we give it credit for.
10:38I am not in this camp of, wow, everything's going great and we get
10:42Kaminga back soon.
10:44I want to be that way, but I just don't know if it's going to look like that
10:48when he comes back.
10:50Well, I am that way because I have faith that the coaching staff can
10:53communicate with Jonathan and that Jonathan is mature enough in his game
10:57and in his life and also smart enough to understand what has gone on without
11:03him and how he can contribute to winning.
11:06I don't think that he sits there and thinks, all right, I'm going to come
11:08back in five games and I'm going to have 20 games and I need to go out
11:14there and absolutely cook for me.
11:16I need to get me mine.
11:18No, he's not a selfish player.
11:20I'm with you there.
11:22I think that he's a smart player and I think that he is watching what's
11:26going on and realizing what he can do that the team doesn't have right
11:30now, which Jimmy Butler does a lot of the things that he can do.
11:35Kaminga can elevate like nobody else on this team and get not to the rim,
11:40but above the rim.
11:42And I also think that if you have Steph and Jimmy Butler out there, he
11:46can benefit like Gary is in the corner, like Quentin is in the corner,
11:51like Pods is above the break.
11:53I think that open threes will be there for Jonathan and so his three
11:57point percentage can go up just by being a lot more open than he was.
12:02Hold on.
12:03Maybe he'll be better.
12:05Like I don't know.
12:07That's all I'm saying.
12:08I don't know.
12:09And what I think is that the challenge that's in front of him is maybe
12:13bigger than people are giving it credit for.
12:15He may nail it.
12:16He may hit a home run.
12:18And the Warriors may just be absolutely unstoppable when he gets back.
12:22I hope that is the case.
12:24But this is challenging because I mean this is a total like over
12:32analogy, but y'all seen Shawshank Redemption, right?
12:36Remember Brooks?
12:38Old guy gets out of the and he ends up hanging himself, but spoilers.
12:42Sorry.
12:43Yeah.
12:44When Brooks gets out of prison and he gets out into the world, he's like,
12:47what the hell is this?
12:48The world went and got itself in a big old hurry and he feels completely
12:53overwhelmed and he doesn't want to be a part of it anymore.
12:56I'm not saying Jonathan's not going to want to be a part of it.
13:00This is maybe your darkest analogy ever.
13:02Well, Brooks was actually a pretty happy guy until he got out there.
13:05But he had to ask his manager to go to the bathroom.
13:08He did.
13:09And then the manager told him that he didn't have to ask him.
13:12Just go to the bathroom.
13:13Yeah.
13:14Jonathan's coming into a new world.
13:16And that could go a lot of different ways.
13:19You're listening to 95.7 The Game.
13:21Might not have been my best analogy.
13:23KGMG FM and HC1 San Francisco and Odyssey Sports Station.
13:27Always live on the free Odyssey app.
13:30Twitch and YouTube powered by First NorCal Credit Union for a low-rate auto loan.
13:33Apply online or just ask for First NorCal Financing at the dealer.
13:37Just before you go to the phone, I just want to offer my appreciation for the effort.
13:42Because you compared a 22-year-old to Brooks from Shawshank Redemption.
13:48I thought that it was an impressive effort.
13:50He had some hops now.
13:51You didn't know that about Brooks.
13:53I saw the after show.
13:54He can get up.
13:57Let's go to Shane.
13:59Let's go to Shane in the city.
14:01Hi, Shane.
14:02What are you doing?
14:03Hey, what's up, guys?
14:05Driving 280 in traffic.
14:07Good luck.
14:08I am shaking my head.
14:11I'm shaking my head right now.
14:12I really can't believe the Cominga slander, man.
14:16This is crazy.
14:17You should be excited.
14:19Miss me with the pods is a better scoring option than Cominga.
14:24Like that.
14:26Wait.
14:27Time out.
14:28Time out, Willard.
14:29Time out, Willard.
14:30Where's the slander?
14:31I threw out a question, Shane.
14:34I think he's got a really, really hard assignment here.
14:38Nobody said pods was a better player.
14:42I want to know if this guy coming off the bench is going to be able to have the same
14:49presence that he had before with Jimmy Butler on the team.
14:52There's no slander there, is there?
14:55I hear you.
14:56I hear you.
14:57Check me out.
14:58Hear me out for a second.
15:00Cominga is the lynchpin, ladies and gentlemen.
15:03I heard it here first.
15:05You're talking about pods and Moody, both great players.
15:09Happy they're on the team, their points per game with Jimmy Butler.
15:13Jimmy Butler elevates players around him.
15:16That's what he does.
15:17Can we get an average points per game for Cominga the 10 games before he got
15:23injured, like a ding, 20, 20.8 or something like that.
15:27Like, you know, fuck it.
15:29Right.
15:30Jimmy Butler is an unselfish scorer.
15:33He scores the best.
15:34He scored.
15:35Oh, the ball.
15:37Oh, there he is.
15:38Steph, any given night can drop 30, 35, whatever.
15:43That's great.
15:44But Cominga is going to be the number one, number two scorer on this team between
15:49Jimmy and Steph.
15:53Jimmy elevates players around him.
15:54So just if he's bringing pods into the discussion that you think he's a better
15:58scoring option than Cominga, then just imagine what Cominga is going to do.
16:02The true Cominga was those 10 games before he got injured.
16:05Cominga is the lynchpin.
16:07Let's go.
16:08Okay.
16:09Shane, I hope you're right.
16:10The last nine games, he came off the bench and he averaged 20 a night in
16:14those nine, and he shot 48% from the floor and 41.4 from three.
16:19Right.
16:21And my entire point in this conversation is all of that happened before the
16:24Warriors completely changed.
16:27We would all admit, right?
16:29Am I wrong?
16:30The Warriors are a completely different team.
16:31No, they're different.
16:32Yeah.
16:33They're a completely different team, and Jonathan's got to work his way into
16:35that.
16:36I very much want that to go great.
16:38I think it's a hefty assignment.
16:40I really do.
16:41It's going to be an adjustment for sure, and it's going to be up to the
16:45Warriors to figure out with whom Jonathan Cominga plays the best because
16:50in those nine games, all off the bench, he shot 13 times a game.
16:54So he was getting his touches.
16:56In 28 minutes, he shot 13.5 times a game, and if he still has 28 minutes
17:01a night, let's just say that he slots into the same basic rotation.
17:06It might be hard for him to get 13 shots when you've got Jimmy Butler out
17:10there, and now Pods is back healthy.
17:12I do think that his shot attempts will go down, so he needs to be as
17:18efficient, if not more efficient.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Let's go to Drew in San Jose.
17:24Hi, Drew.
17:25Thanks for calling.
17:26Hey, guys.
17:27Are you able to hear me?
17:28Yep.
17:29Gotcha.
17:30All right.
17:31Sounds good.
17:32Yeah.
17:33So, I mean, a lot of talk has been about Cominga and his role coming
17:37back, and I'm in complete agreement with Willard here.
17:41It's a tough assignment for him, and I think it is a tough assignment
17:47because he's one of the biggest players on the Warriors, but he just
17:51refuses to play big, and the role that he had before he got hurt was
17:57probably the second-best scorer next to Steph because Buddy was
18:01struggling, and they were really struggling to find anyone who could
18:06score, and Cominga was sort of filling in that role, albeit
18:10inconsistently.
18:12Now, the Warriors are not as struggling on offense anymore with the
18:17addition of Jimmy Butler.
18:18He's going to have to play big, and he's going to be taking minutes
18:22away from guys like DeSantos, guys like Quentin Post coming off the
18:27bench, at least to start.
18:29He's going to have to take care of the—do all the dirty work and hustle
18:34and rebound because if he doesn't do that, there's really not a role
18:38on his team.
18:40But I will say this as my last point.
18:42If he does that, and he does buy into that, that is the difference
18:46between this team being a first-round exit and a potential Western
18:50Conference finalist because I know there's been good vibes going on
18:54right now.
18:55I think you guys would agree that you still would have this team sort
18:59of penciled in as a first-round exit given what we've seen so far.
19:03The difference between first-round exit and potentially going to the
19:08Western Conference finals, NBA finals, is a good, productive
19:11Jonathan Kaminga because he has something that nobody else on this
19:15team has.
19:16Thanks, guys.
19:17Drew, thank you.
19:18It's a good call.
19:19And yes, mathematically, this six seed that everybody's pointing to,
19:22which by the way, they're only a game out of now.
19:24Wow, how quick that happened.
19:26That's insane.
19:27Insane how quickly that's turned.
19:29Warriors are only a game out of the six.
19:31But this six seed that everyone's pointing to is supposed to lose.
19:35Yes.
19:36It's supposed to lose in the first round.
19:38Right.
19:39That's the way it's set up.
19:40Well, they don't have to.
19:41No, no.
19:42Yes.
19:43They can win and maybe they will be this different team.
19:45This will sustain and Jonathan will fit right in and they'll be the team
19:49that nobody wants to face and they're going to upset people and all that.
19:52But yeah, like I agree with Drew that in this moment, they're still
19:56technically slated to not make it to the second round, number one.
20:00And then as far as the Kaminga role, like the things that he points out
20:04that Kaminga's got to do, let's have an honest moment with each other.
20:08Some of them are things that even the coaching staff has said he's been
20:14inconsistent with through his last couple seasons.
20:17And that's fair.
20:18Yeah, he's been inconsistent as wanting to rebound,
20:22wanting to defend on the ball, and being a great decision maker.
20:27It has been inconsistent, which you'd expect, 21, 22 years old.
20:30Right.
20:31I do think that the decision-making part of it, a lot of it goes away
20:35because now he won't have to make those decisions as much.
20:38You've got Jimmy Butler on the ball and Draymond and Steph.
20:41I just was punching up their numbers.
20:43Pods versus Kaminga.
20:45Pods, when he came back from his injury, he's played 14 games,
20:4928 minutes a night.
20:51He's averaging 14.7.
20:53Okay.
20:54And he's getting 5.5 rebounds, which is really good since he got back.
20:58Kaminga, in those nine games before he got hurt, including the last game,
21:02the ninth game, he had 20 a night, as mentioned,
21:06the exact same 28 minutes as Pods,
21:09and he was getting 6.5 rebounds a night,
21:12which is more toward what the Warriors have wanted.
21:15And you mentioned the inconsistency part of it.
21:18For the year, he's only averaging 5 rebounds.
21:21So that's where a lot of fans, I think, are using the recency bias,
21:25which is great.
21:26It felt like over the last nine or ten games that Jonathan had figured out
21:31what he needs to do, better defense, aggressive on the glass,
21:36more aggressive scoring the basketball.
21:38I do wonder about the minutes, and I know they don't play the same position,
21:42but Pods is playing 28 minutes since he came back.
21:45Kaminga was getting 28 minutes over the last nine before he got hurt.
21:50If they can both play 28 minutes and they can both play like they've been playing,
21:55not that Kaminga's going to get 20 a night, but you put it at 16 a night,
21:59and if he can get you 6 rebounds and Pods can get you 15 a night
22:03and he can get you 6 or 7 rebounds, all of a sudden now,
22:07you're looking at a very good deep team.
22:09Yes, you are.